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T O P I C R E V I E W

BBlatcher

According to this post on Vintage Space, NASA had an Apollo astronaut hypnotized, to cut down on his cursing. Supposedly the psychiatrist implanted a suggestion for the astronaut to hum, rather than curse. The mentioned blog post says it was Pete Conrad, of Apollo 12.

Is there any validity to this and can you cite sources?

moorouge

Yes - there is some truth in this. It is suggested that this accounts for Conrad's "Tum-ti-tums" on his Moon walks.

RichardH

I remember watching a video on YouTube (maybe it was on Al Bean's website) where Al Bean mentioned Pete Conrad's "colorful" language, he also mentioned something about them "trying" to impose a delay on the broadcast, so that any curse words could be edited out, but NASA declined that request.

I've only heard one astronaut actually curse during a mission, and that was John W. Young complaining about the potassium enriched citrus drink they drank on the lunar surface.

MCroft04

I believe Gene Cernan had a lapse on Apollo 10 when the LM went wild. I bet there are others.

For what little it's worth (it doesn't cite its sources), Encyclopedia Astronautica attributes the story to Charlie Duke.

Duke had been hypnotized to keep him from using his customary cuss words while being broadcast live from the moon, which led to his constant singing to compensate...

BBlatcher

quote:Originally posted by moorouge:Yes - there is some truth in this. It is suggested that this accounts for Conrad's "Tum-ti-tums" on his Moon walks.

A Man on the Moon and Rocketman attributed that to signs that Conrad was happy and busy working. Evidently he wasn't one to be quiet.

As to it being Charlie Duke on Apollo 16, is that mentioned anywhere, say in his book "Moonwalker"?

moorouge

Wasn't it Duke who said, "Rats!" when he fell over on a lunar EVA?

Robert Pearlman

Charlie Duke confirms it was not him, nor does he know who it was (if anyone) that was hypnotized.

I also heard from Amy Teitel of Vintage Space, who said her blog was inspired by a footnote in Charles Murray's and Catherine Bly Cox's book "Apollo."

Space Cadet Carl

Anyone know where I can listen to the soundbyte or read the transcript of what Gene Cernan actually said when LM Snoopy started tumbling at descent stage separation on Apollo 10? I've looked for the audio and can't find it.

Lunar Module 5

There is some discussion here about some of the language used on Apollo 10. The clip of Gene's comment is at about the 8.40 mark.

ea757grrl

Cernan did indeed say "son of a (expletive deleted since this is a family website)" after staging. It went out live, and I know this because I've seen the CBS coverage of that moment. The version of the CBS coverage that's on YouTube apparently has it cut out, but I've seen the unedited version and it's there.

Cernan just sort of blurts it out - it's not screamed or shouted the way you'd think, but says it so quickly, in a tone that's as much annoyed as surprised, that you almost miss it. It's followed a few seconds later by Cernan saying, "Okay, let's burn on the AGS." About three minutes later, after a litany of readouts and when things have started to stabilize, Cernan says, "I don't know what the hell that was, babe." It's actually a little underwhelming to hear, if you can believe it.

Headshot

I remember hearing Cernan's SOB exclamation live. My father and I were startled that we actually heard something like that on TV (remember this was back in 1969 when that sort of stuff did not come over the television set). I quickly realized that something "bad" had happened, but the "problem" seemed to be corrected quickly.

Of course the exclamation was not mentioned by the commentators and the "SOB" audio clip was not replayed a gazillion times. In fact, for the longest time, I believe the only unedited source for that crisis was the Time-Life LP set To The Moon.

Cernan's book describes the negative fallout he faced for swearing on the air. Perhaps this fallout registered on Pete Conrad. I am certain NASA management picked up on it.

Chariot412

quote:Originally posted by Lunar Module 5:The clip of Gene's comment is at about the 8.40 mark.

Gosh, was that what I thought it was at 8:40 on your link?! I knew about the SOB, but that almost sounded like an F-bomb. Am I mistaken? Golly geepers...

Same here. I ran home from school fast to catch Snoopy's plunge toward the lunar surface on CBS. When I heard the LMP, I couldn't believe my young tender ears!

Lunar Module 5

Yes I do think that Gene definitely said the F word... unless my ears deceive me!

Mind you... the comm was pretty bad, which is what he was eluding to!

Lunar Module 5

On the SOB comment — it is heard in full during the coverage here at about the 36:58 point - hope that what you have been wanting to see again, as I believe that is the unedited version as seen live that day.

Headshot

Was the F-bomb really Cernan's?

For some reason, over the years, I always thought it was Stafford's. I do not remember what put that in my head, but that thought is really stuck in my mind.

Lunar Module 5

It sure sounds like Cernan! More than Stafford!

Headshot

I believe you're right LM-5. Just watched/listened to the YouTube segment (talking about bringing back memories!!!) and it sure did not sound like Stafford.

ea757grrl

Many thanks to LM-5 for finding that clip. That was an upload I wasn't aware of (it's truly frightening how much is out there just waiting to be discovered!).

Jay Chladek

I listened to it on a headset and it didn't sound like an F-bomb to me due to its weird pronunciation. It sounded more like "poo-awk". Or perhaps Gene was trying to combine "phooey" with a k on the end.

I wouldn't read much into it in any event. The SOB comment when the craft started gyrating is what got him into trouble and it was relatively clean compared to what it could have been.